Two-way coupling



Patented June 20, 1939 I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,163,212 TWO-WAY COUPLING 7 Frank A. Reddick, Ranchester, Wyo. Application September 16, 1938, Serial No. 230,318

4 Claims. (Cl. 285-146) My invention relates particularly. to the art of at 6 to the lower neck lot a female coupling memwell drilling. After a well is drilled and the casher 8, the lower portion of which is internally ing is. set, the well cylinder contains the back threaded as at Ill with a left hand thread. check valve unit and the valved plunger unit is The member 8 has its upper end provided with lowered and secured in place by using the drill an internal right hand thread 9 to receive the 5 rod connection to a seating tool. The cylinder right hand threaded bulbous portion l3 of the is set by rotating'the rod in a right hand direcrod section l2. Below the bulb 13 the rod I2 is tion and the rod sections are coupled together by threaded at l4 with a left hand thread to enter couplings having right hand threads. When, and fit the thread Ill. The thread 9 extends only however, it becomes necessary to remove the well part way down the member 8 so that the bulb 10 cylinder, the drill rod and the tool must be turned l3 may be Sc p the thread 9 t bring in a left hand direction. This has heretofore thread 14 into engagement with thread ill (see made it necessary for the well man to provide two Fig. 3). complete sets of drill rods, one with right hand All d Secti s l2 at t eir ends pp s the 15 couplings to be used in drilling operations and bulb 13 are welded to the neck 1 of a. female 15 cylinder-setting operations, and the other for use coupling member 8. in cylinder-removing operations. It is, therefore, When the drill rod is to be used in the ordinary the primary object of my invention to provide a Way (right hand turning) a sleeve I6 is inserted rod coupling by the provision of which only one in the member 8 to limit the insertion of the bulb set of drill rods need be carried by the well rel3 to the positio Shown in the Portion 20 pair man to be used both for inserting and for M of the rod section I2 lying Within the sleeve removing or releasing the well cylinder. and the beveled portion I5 engaging with wedg- Other objects will in part be obvious and in ing action the sleeve I6. When assembled for part be pointed out hereinafter. left hand turning, the sleeve I6 is left out and To the attainment of the aforesaid objects and the parts C up as Shown in 25 ends the invention still further resides in the It will of course b un r at h l n novel details of construction, combination and of the rod sections [2 (solid rods or tubular rods) arrangement of parts, all of which will be first y b y length desired, and the u b of fully described in the following detailed descripsections of rods and couplings required will detion, and then be p-articuarly pointed out in the pend on the depth of the well. 30 appended claims, reference being had to the ac- By the use of my invention I reduce the number companying drawing, in which: of rod sections which the repair man must car- Figs. 1 and 1 (readable as one figure by joinry with him fifty per cent. ing lines AA) constitute a vertical section of a From the foregoing description, taken in conwell with the drill rod equipped with my invennection with the accompanying drawing, it is 5 tion in use in setting the cylinder. thought that the construction, operation and ad- Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical section and part vantages of the invention will be clear to those elevation showing my improved coupling assemskilled in the art to which it relates. bled for right hand turning to secure the well What I claim is: cylinder in place. 1. A two-Way coupling, comprising a female Fig. 3 is a view showing the coupling assembled member having an enlarged bore and a restricted for left hand turning when removing the Well bore, said restricted bore having a left hand cylinder. thread and-said enlarged bore having a right Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2. hand thread at its entrant end extending only In the drawing, in which like numbers of partly the depth of the enlarged bore, and a 45 reference indicate like parts in all the figures, l male member having at one end a left hand is the well casing, 2 the well cylinder which thread to cooperate with the left hand thread carries the back check valve unit 3 and the valved of the female member and having a bulbous plunger 4, and 5 is the seating tool which is portion adjacent said one end which bulbous designed to engage the well cylinder 2 in any portion has a right hand thread, the construc- 50 approved way to turn it for the purpose of extion being such that when the right hand threads panding or contracting the rubber packing I! to of the male and female members are in engageset or release the cylinder accordingly as it is ment the left hand threads of the same are not turned in a right hand or a left hand direction. in engagement and vice versa.

In applying my invention the tool 5 is welded 2. A two-way coupl comprising a f male 55 member having an enlarged bore and a. restricted bore, said restricted bore having a left hand thread and said enlarged bore having a right hand thread at its entrant end extending only partly the depth of the enlarged bore, a male member having at one end a left hand thread to cooperate with the left hand thread of the female member and having a bulbous portion adjacent said one end which bulbous portion has a right hand thread, the construction being such that when the right hand threads of the male and female members are in engagement the left hand threads of the same are not in engagement and vice versa, and removable means inserted in the female member between its two threaded portions to limit the insertion. of the male member into the female member to a po sition where the right hand threads only engage.

3. In well drill rods, a rod section having one end threaded with a thread of one direction and 7 having adjacent thereto a bulbous enlargement with a thread of the opposite direction, a female coupling member permanently secured tothe other end of said rod section and comprising a tubular body having an enlarged bore threaded for a portion only of its length from its outer end with a thread like that of said bulbous portion and having a reduced bore with a thread like that of the adjacent end of the rod section, the arrangement being such that when the bulbous portion of a rod section is screwed into the female coupling member of another like rod section, the threaded end of the first rod section will be enclosed in the female member without screw contact therewith, for purposes described.

4. In well drill rods, a rod section having one end threaded with a thread of one direction and having adjacent thereto a bulbous enlargement with a thread of the opposite direction, a female coupling member permanently secured to the other end of said rod section and comprising a tubular body having an enlarged bore threaded for a portion only of its length from its outer end with a thread like that of said bulbous portion and having a reduced bore with a thread like that of the opposite end of the rod section for purposes described, and a sleeve to fit into said female coupling member between the threaded parts thereof and having a bore of greater diameter than the outer diameter of said rod section for purposes described.

FRANK A. REDDICK. 

